Oil slips as Syria talks continue

NEW YORK (AP) — The price of oil fell Friday as the U.S. and Russia held discussions in Geneva aimed at getting Syria to give up its chemical weapons.

U.S. benchmark crude for October delivery fell 39 cents to close at $108.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, oil dropped 1.7 percent after closing last Friday at a two-year high of $110.53.

American and Russian chemical weapons experts huddled in a Geneva hotel to haggle over technical details that will be critical to reaching a deal for securing Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met to examine political developments and plot a new international conference in Geneva to support the creation of a Syrian transitional government.

“I will say on behalf of the United States that President Obama is deeply committed to a negotiated solution with respect to Syria,” Kerry said after his meeting with Lavrov.

Syria is not a major oil producer, but oil traders say the possibility of a wider conflict could interrupt production and shipping routes in the Middle East and cause prices to rise. In recent days, oil prices have risen and receded in accordance with the perceived likelihood of a U.S. military attack.

The November Brent contract, the benchmark for international crudes, rose 17 cents to $111.70 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

— Wholesale gasoline rose 1 cent to $2.77 per gallon.

— Natural gas rose 4 cents to $3.68 per 1,000 cubic feet.

— Heating oil was flat at $3.11 per gallon.

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Pablo Gorondi in Budapest and Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.